The Shaping of Psychosomatics in the Latin West
Santorio Lecture 2024
The Shaping of Psychosomatics
in the Latin West
Twelfth-Century Physicians on Emotions, Reason, and the Divine
Tamar Nadav
Based on the book I am currently writing under this title, the talk will offer a glimpse into the twelfth-century notion of embodiment, its scientific foundations, and its medical motivations. The authors examined belong to a group of physicians well known in research and have been often considered as the pioneers of Galenic medicine in the Latin West.
What has remained unnoticed thus far is that these physicians were deeply engaged in the study of the soul and its bodily mechanisms, and that their interest in anchoring this study in perceivable and demonstrable phenomena was far more sophisticated and scientifically grounded than we tend to consider.
The Santorio Lecture will examine the historical significance of their discussions from two angles. Firstly, by highlighting their scientifically grounded engagement with contemporary theology and cosmology, and secondly, by focusing on the medical and practical motivations of their new science of embodiment.
My principal argument will be that, as we move forward in time, these physicians’ notions of embodiment become more intricate and more oriented towards the explanation and treatment of psychosomatic pathologies.
Accordingly, I suggest reconsidering the role these physicians played in shaping the European discourse on the body-soul nexus. This discourse may have been far more rooted in medical reasoning than we tend to consider, and far more oriented towards understanding the origins of physical ailments and dysfunctions.
